technology

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Technology


Educators can engage in data-driven analyses and improvement without technology tools but it's awfully difficult. How can digital technologies make educators' data-driven efforts more efficient and effective?

Big Ideas
  • Technology must be used comprehensively and purposefully to create effective education support systems for standards and assessments, curriculum and instruction, professional development, professional learning communities, and administration.
    • MISIC and others have created technology tools that can be used to analyze current standards to Core Curriculum.
      • Next Navigator (Link at bottom of page) analyses national core standards with rigor and relevance framework. It also provides questions to assess standards in two forms. (Great for retesting!)
  • Technology provides educators with instant, on-demand access to various resources that they can use to enhance classroom education.
  • Data management systems allow states, districts and schools to make sense of numerous data collected, monitor technology and other resources, and track trends in student achievement.
  • Technology is a “data tool for education to better understand and inform educational and instructional decision making.”
  • Technology provides a means to collect, organize, and analyze data in meaningful ways so that data can be used to adjust instructional programs whether at the teacher level or school district level.
  • Technology can be used to provide students real time data about a test they just took or used for formative feedback to guide learning.
  • Instructional Management Systems help educators store, analyze, and report data from perodic assessments.
  • Instructional Management Systems offer technology that will integrate with other systems while allowing formative assessment input.
  • Administrators put a lot of stock into technology tools that measure summative data, remember it is also important to look for technology tools that help teachers by providing formative data that will immediately impact instruction provided to their students.
  • Assessment systems should be user-friendly, easy to understand and access. They should have the ability to show results of assessments quickly.
  • Designate data assistance managers at the school and central office. These managers should be experienced and respected educators instead of technologists, etc.


Practical Tips
  • Use technology to update and compare standards and curriculum to work together
  • Using Web sites and collaborative tools to share information
  • Technology allows teachers to access and use standards, rubrics, student work, lesson plans, and other resources to improve teaching and learning.
  • Online testing and interactive assessments and report results to teachers instantly to provide for useful feedback.
  • Videoconferencing, online learning, networking and instant messaging can support professional development and professional learning communities to collaborate with data.
  • Using technology effectively allows those at all levels of education to make informed educational decisions based on accurate and timely information. Teachers and administrators can access student-level enrollment, attendance, referrals, demographic, assessment, and program participation information and can match individual student test records from year to year.
  • Technology provides opportuntities for teachers to network on common curriculum topics or instructional strategies, particularly in districts with single section courses or only one teacher per curriculum area.
  • Technology also allows students the ability to network with other schools about a topic.
  • Use technology that will allow more than spreadsheets for reporting. Cross-tabs, tables, and longitudinal graphs will help communicate longitudinal trends as well as longterm progress.
  • Use technology to provide opportuntities for teachers to work collaboratively with student data.

Resources